Sweeteners do more than sweeten: They promote tenderness in cakes and cookies, activate yeast, preserve, accelerate browning, and stabilize whipped egg whites. In general, liquid sweeteners can replace white sugar in baked goods, but they may have distinctive flavors, plus they’ll brown faster. For each cup of liquid sweetener you use, reduce the other liquid in the recipe by one-quarter.
Granulated Sugar: The relatively fine crystals and neutral flavor of granulated (white) sugar make it the most versatile sweetener there is and is the most refined of sugars ; we’d scarcely recognize cake and cookies without it. Granulated sugar is also used in savory cooking – for instance to temper the acidity of tomato sauce. There are two kinds of sugar: cane, derived from the tropical sugarcane, and beet, made from sugar beets. Beet sugar is cheaper than cane sugar. In baking, they are interchangeable, but if you’re melting sugar for a caramel, be sure to use cane sugar, because beet sugar doesn’t melt as smoothly. Containers of cane sugar will say “pure cane sugar”. If a bag just says “sugar”, it’s most likely beet sugar.
Brown Sugar: The most readily available brown sugars are light and dark brown sugar. Both are refined white granulated sugar with some of the extracted molasses replaced. Dark brown sugar has more molasses, giving it a deeper and richer taste than light brown sugar. In recipes where you want a delicate molasses flavor, use light brown sugar. The more assertive dark brown gives cakes and cookies a delicious toffee like flavor. Brown sugar is moist and clumpy, and is measured by packing into a dry measuring cup. When brown sugar is exposed to air, the moisture in the molasses evaporates, and the brown sugar dries out and hardens. You can soften it by adding a cut apple to the bag or box, closing it up, and waiting a day or two. To keep any unused brown sugar moist, store leftovers with a cut apple in a tightly closed container
Confectioner’s Sugar: To produce powdered sugar, manufactures grind granulated sugar 10 times (that’s why it is sometimes referred as 10X) and mix it with cornstarch, which prevents it from clumping. It is used mostly to make icings and frostings because it dissolves easily and to dust baked cookies, cakes, or cupcakes. To make it yourself, grind 1 cup of granulated sugar with 1 teaspoon cornstarch in a blender – a food processor will not work – for a full 3 minutes. Be sure to store it airtight, and if it is very lumpy, sift it before measuring.
Turbinado Sugar: Turbinado has a mild caramel-molasses flavor and large, rock candy-like crystals that do not really dissolve a reason to avoid it when making batters or dough’s. Instead, stir it into coffee or tea, where it will dissolve, or to sprinkle it on muffin batter and cookie dough for a nice crunch. As part of the manufacturing process, turbinado sugar is spun in a centrifuge or a turbine; thus the name.
Natural Cane Sugar: Look for this delicious unrefined sugar in Latin markets as piloncillo (sometimes panela) or in Indian markets as jaggery (or gur). Juice from sugar cane (or palm tree sap) is boiled and poured into molds, where it hardens into blocks. Tasters compared piloncillo to tart molasses, and found jaggery “buttery,” “citrusy,” and “smoky.” Melt a lump in your coffee or grate it over buttered toast. For baking, melt these sugars with a liquid ingredient.
Honey: Bees pollinate, thus indirectly giving us much of the food we eat. Directly, they give us honey, the world’s oldest sweetener. Orange blossom, clover blossom, sage blossom, and buckwheat are four of the most commonly used honeys. Mild in flavor, they add moisture without dominating other flavorings-such as extracts or spices. To revive crystallized honey, put the jar of honey in a saucepan of water and heat over low heat until the crystals dissolve.
Corn Syrup: Although many people think of corn syrup as cloying, it’s actually only about 65% as sweet as white sugar. In fact, tasted by itself, it was “sort of savory.” Corn syrup – a byproduct of cornstarch – does not crystallize. As a result, it won’t turn frostings, candies, or pies grainy (it’s used most famously in pecan pie). Manufactures turn light corn syrup into dark by adding caramel color and a molasses-like product.
Maple Syrup: To begin, pure maple syrup and pancake syrup are not the same. Maple syrup comes in different grades: Fancy, A, and B, ranging in color from very light gold to dark amber. The lighter the syrup, the milder the flavor and the higher the price. Use light syrups for anything from pouring onto pancakes or waffles to cookie doughs and cake batters. The darker Grade B is also suitable for both eating and baking. It works very well in soft ginger cookies and in gingerbread instead of molasses. Real maple syrup is nothing but sap from the sugar maple tree that has been boiled down (from about 40 gallons to 1). In the process, the sap caramelizes and develops its characteristics flavor. Maple Grove Farms Pure Maple Syrup is my favorite brand.
Molasses: Molasses is a syrupy byproduct of the refining of cane sugar. It is very slightly more nutritious than white sugar. It has a distinctive taste and aroma-assertive and inviting, with coffee and butterscotch nuances. Brer Rabbit and Grandmas’ are the most common brands.
Cane Syrup: Cane syrup, a caramelized, concentrated version of pure cane juice, is one of the distinctive flavors of southern Louisiana, where about half the sugar cane in the United States is grown. It has been described as having a “boozy,” “burnt caramel” flavor, making it well suited for fruitcake. In Louisiana, it’s drizzled over biscuits and boudin rouge sausages and used in a spice cake called gateau de sirop.
Sorghum Syrup: Slaves probably brought sweet sorghum- a native African grass – to the United States. The juice of the grass is extracted and concentrated into syrup. Made today in very small batches in southeastern and Gulf States, no two brands are exactly alike. They range from “lemony” to “tar-like and molasses-y”. All have a slight “malty” flavor suited to barbecue sauce and baked beans.
Golden Syrup: Golden syrup is available almost exclusively from the British brand Lyle’s, and the British use it, among other things, in the flapjack, their beloved bar cookie. The syrup, which is also called treacle, is about 25% sweeter than sugar. It’s made from cane sugar and tastes similar to “butterscotch,” “toffee” flavors. Use this on pancakes as an alternative to maple syrup.
Agave Nectar: Blue agave, a large, spiky succulent that grows mostly in Mexico, gives us both agave nectar and tequila. The mild syrup is extracted and filtered from the core of the plant. In recent years, it has gained popularity as a natural alternative to white sugar, particularly in baking, possibly because unlike many other liquid sugars, it has a relatively neutral taste.